Recently, the use of wireless communication connection has rapidly increased for data communication and control on various kinds of information devices such as information terminals, e.g., cellular-telephones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), personal computers, and peripheral devices of personal computers, typified by printers. A wireless communication system based on this wireless communication connection uses not only the public switched telephone network but also a local network such as a Bluetooth® network or wireless LAN.
Wireless communication functions are being mounted in various devices, other than the above information devices, e.g., image capturing apparatuses such as digital cameras, home electric appliances, and accessories. Although USB (Universal Serial Bus) is widely used as a wired communication connection method, wireless USB is under development.
When a wireless communication apparatus is to perform wireless data communication, a procedure called authentication is executed in many cases to prevent the apparatus from being connected to an unspecified apparatus or unintended apparatus. In performing this authentication, PIN (Personal Identification Number) code, ESSID (Extended Service Set Identifier), or the like is exchanged as one piece of authentication information between wireless communication apparatuses. Using the authentication information then makes the two specific wireless communication apparatuses which have exchanged the authentication information associate with each other in a one-to-one correspondence, thereby ensuring authentication security for wireless communication.
This authentication information should not be disclosed to the third person. If the authentication information leaks to the third person, the third person may access electronic data such as a document, address book, electronic mail, personal information, and image data stored in the apparatus. There is a risk that a wireless communication system, accounting system, and print system may be fraudulently used. In such a situation, much attention has been paid to security measures for these wireless communication apparatuses.
There are available several input methods for authentication information for making wireless communication apparatuses mutually authenticate. More specifically, such methods include a method of manually inputting information, a method of inputting information by inserting a SIM (Subscriber Identify Module) card into a device, a method of performing authentication by using infrared communication, a method of performing authentication by using a connection cable, a method of causing one of two wireless communication means provided in apparatuses to perform authentication, and the like. Authentication information such as communication parameter, address identifier, and the like is stored in the storage unit of each wireless communication apparatus after completion of mutual authentication between the apparatuses. At the time of data communication, a wireless data communication path is ensured by using the stored authentication information.
As a method of authenticating wireless communication apparatuses while taking security measures, the following method is proposed (Japanese Patent No. 3422683). In performing wireless communication between two communication apparatuses, when the first apparatus is partially engaged with the docking port of the second apparatus (first communication means), the first and second apparatuses are automatically connected to each other through the second communication means, thereby allowing the apparatuses to exchange address identifiers. According to this method, no address identifier or encryption key is disclosed to any communication apparatuses which are not located within a sufficiently nearby range, and hence an improvement in security can be expected.
There is also proposed a technique in which first and second communication devices each having a first communication unit capable of wireless communication and a second communication unit different from the first communication unit determine a communication parameter for wireless communication between the two devices when the two communication units are connected to each other, thereby eliminating the necessity to make each user set a communication parameter necessary for wireless communication (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-359623).
As the word length of authentication information which associates two specific wireless communication apparatuses randomly increases, the strength of security increases. If, however, a user is to manually input the information, he/she is forced to perform cumbersome operation. For this reason, authentication information to be manually input by a user tends to be a code with a short word length which can be easily guessed by the third person. The method of performing authentication by infrared communication forces a user to perform cumbersome operation and makes he/she bother with excessively narrow directivity. The method of performing authentication by using a connection cable requires wired connection between apparatuses, resulting in cumbersome operation.
In addition, according to the above prior art, wireless communication apparatuses cannot exchange any authentication information such as a communication parameter and address identifier unless wired connection or coupling to a docking port is performed before data communication. This forces a user to perform cumbersome operation and also makes it necessary to use different wireless communication means for authentication processing and data communication, resulting in hindrance to the simplification of a wireless communication apparatus, power saving, and a reduction in size.
As described above, the problem is that a system (wireless communication system or print system) which allows a user to easily set authentication information such as a communication parameter and address identifier and is easy for the user to use cannot be provided as an authentication method for a wireless communication apparatus.